Rock n Roll Bride's Top 10 Blogging Tips

I've been blogging for over five years and full-time for the past two and a half. I now make enough money from Rock n Roll Bride to support myself, my husband and our two very hungry cats. I also teach a two-day blogging workshop - www.theblogcademy.com (our next class in the UK is in London on September 5th & 6th). So needless to say I've got my fair share of tips for blogging success to share. Here's just ten of them…

1. Have something different to say and a unique voice to say it in. There are a trillion blogs out there and the only way to stand out is to have something different to say. Don't just blindly follow what everyone else is doing or saying. It can be very easy to look to the bigger or more popular bloggers and think you have to be exactly like them to be a success. Wrong! Copying them will not make you a success. Blogging is all about producing great unique content that people want to read and share. You need to be a leader not a follower.

2. Be helpful, useful, engaging and inspiring. Reposting pretty pictures and 'inspiration' is fine to a point, but it's the really helpful and meaty posts that will get your readers engaged and your content shared. Think about what you can teach or advise your readers on. What do you know that they don't?

3. Credit your images . With the popularity of sites like Tumblr and Pinterest it can seem like it's perfectly OK to repost other people's images without permission. This is not true and not crediting or getting permission for the images you're sharing can get you into some serious hot water. To be safe, always ask the photographer's permission before you post something, or better still, take your own photos.

4. Be consistent. Make sure you're posting regularly – every day or every week at the same time. Start an editorial calendar so you have an idea of what you're going to write about on each day. Having a rough framework will make it easier for you to come up with article ideas and give your readers something regular to tune in for.

5. Make your blog as pretty as possible. No-one wants to read an ugly blog. If you're struggling with design, keep it simple. Strip it all back. Get rid of those pointless widgets in your sidebar, make your navigation super obvious and create a big, beautiful header that will capture people's attention.

6. Don't be afraid to push boundaries . Write about things that you're passionate about and post articles that scare you. Don't go out to be controversial for the sake of it - car crash blogging will only get you so far – but don't hold off writing about the things you really want to because you're afraid of what people will think. By being brave, you'll really reach out to those readers who feel exactly the same as you. The people that don't like it aren't your target market anyway.

7. Sync your social media accounts . Make sure you are using the same handle, profile photo and intro text on each social media platform, so it's easy for people to know you're the same person. Also make it easy for people to find you. Have links to your key accounts somewhere really obvious on your blog's homepage.

8. Have a killer 'About Me' page . Your 'About Me' is one of the most important pages on your site. People always want to know about the person behind the blog. Use it to show your personality, list your accomplishments and share the things you're proud of. Include a fabulous photo (or three!) of yourself and don't be afraid to talk yourself up – if you don't, no-one else is going to.

9. Network . Get offline and meet other bloggers and business owners in real life. You never know where these real life connections might lead to, what friendships you might make or what opportunities might come your way because of it.

10. Always keep learning. Blogging has a pretty low barrier (you buy a domain, sign up for Wordpress and go!), but if you don't keep pushing to learn more and improve your skills as a blogger, you'll quickly be out of touch. Read blogging advice blogs and books (rocknrollbride.com/greenroom/1/ and problogger.net are great) and attend seminars, classes and workshops (theblogcademy.com is in London in September). Things change very quickly in the blogosphere. You have to keep up or you'll quickly get left behind. Happy Blogging!

Shannon Kovacs*waves* I am Cosmo's resident Blog Awards girl and you can often find me buried in a new blog I haven't discovered, reporting on all the latest happenings and shenanigans in the blogosphere.

Cosmopolitan, Part of the Hearst UK Fashion & Beauty Network
Cosmopolitan participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.